Mortars interrupt silent night in Kajaki

Sgt. Robert Canes, a mortar chief with India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, Cpl. Nester Hernandez, an ammo team chief, and Cpl. David Needham, a mortar gunner, man a mortar tube aboard Forward Operation Base Zeebrugge, Sept. 4. Marines responded to suspicious activity with 81mm high-explosive mortar rounds. The HE mortars have a maximum effective range of 3,490 meters with a casualty radius of 30 meters. Illumination rounds can be fired so an observer can see or to scare off the enemy. This night, both illumination and high explosive rounds were fired. The mortar men fired illumination rounds to confirm the enemy was planting an improvised explosive device. The Marines then switched to high explosive rounds and continued firing until the threat was neutralized.